The trailer of the much-awaited film Laxmmi Bomb came out which has led to some of the most polarizing reactions among the audience and this is in regard to the entire spectrum of viewers from hardcore fans to casual viewers and even skeptics.
Original Source Of The Movie
The trailer of the film which made me come to the conclusion that it’s important that I provide you context about Laxmmi Bomb and its original source material the sequel of the Tamil muni franchise Kanchana that released in 2011 which was directed and starred Raghava Lawrence, who is also the current director of Laxmmi Bomb.
Comparison
Laxmmi Bomb is the official remake and in Laxmmi Bomb a supernatural skeptic inadvertently revived the spirit of a transgender ghost and a little more which I can’t dwell further on that takes over his body in order to wreak havoc due to a traumatic past.
In the original, we see an extremely fearful man played by Raghav Lawrence who streaks at the first sign of trouble or the assumption of the existence of ghosts and the journey that follows after similarly inadvertently reviving the dead that takes over his body.
The Tamil version is actually considered to be one of the most successful ventures based on the return of the investment made on an extremely tight budget of close to seven crores. The film went on to do over 30 crores in gross revenue and sales of distribution rights in other languages while there are identical frames when it comes to the remake and original material from the ghost taking over the protagonist’s body.
The strut by both the actors through a hallway the family spying on the individual as he lathers himself with Haldi or even with a wicked smile on their face when they are enamored by the bangles on their wrists.
Every aspect of the film is taken the scene by scene from the original, which is apparent as it is a remake of the film. However, what really disappointed fans are the several changes the creators have made from a character writing standpoint while the original source material showcased the leading hero that was petrified of even the idea of the supernatural a character that would cling on to his family members.
While telling a scary story or jump on his mother’s hip at the first sign of trouble, these traits generated a sense of endearment towards the leading hero, however, in the remake Akshay Kumar is seen as this brave skeptic who scuffs at the members of the family fearing the presence of a supernatural being.
Bollywood Version
This macho no-nonsense presence may have been written to cater to the image of the Bollywood hero but when I look at Tamil and Telugu remakes that have done exponential business at the box office. The reason for their success is that they stay true to the source material especially the arc of the characters.
Age Gap
I want to be as open and liberal with the idea of romantic interest not being bound by age color race language anything but it’s creepy to me on how the age gap between actors and commercial Bollywood films just gets larger and larger as the years go by when I saw good news the pairing of Akshay Kareena and Diljeet Kiara was a brilliant casting decision.
But when I see Akshay Kumar, 53, and 28-year-old Kiara Advani, it just looks uncomfortable. I wonder why actors like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, or Shilpa Shetty don’t get cast for these roles. This is no hate towards Kiara. I think she’s brilliant but just the pairing and that 25-year difference are a bit weird and creepy to me.
Reaction
One of the points that were most fascinating to me was the shift in reaction people had from the teaser to the trailer while I watched at a distance of people marveling at the background score and intense look of Akshay Kumar. In the teaser, people who independently saw the teaser without the context of the Tamil film thought this would be a game-changer in the representation of transgender people in commercial Bollywood cinema.
Also, it was brave of Akshay Kumar to bring to the forefront what Vijay Sethupathi did so beautifully in super deluxe or what Nirmal Pandey did exquisitely, sadly the contrast of mood and cinematic treatment from what was presumably an intense thriller to a madcap comedy, really disappointed fans.
I agree with the fans that the trailer did not generate any of the two feelings from the trailer neither was I laughing nor was I mildly scared. I think the trailer cut relied too heavily on slapstick comedy to generate laughter but it came across as if it is catered towards the lowest common denominator of gags with no substance.
Transgender Community
The biggest fear people have is that this film presents comedy at the expense of the transgender community, which has fought against discrimination and have been relentless in their pursuit of representation in society. I have to say however if you have seen the original film you will know that there is an arc created with sensitivity in regards to the LGBTQ community which has not been presented in the trailer.
So, while the trailer looks grass over the top and extremely loud, which by the way according to a lot of Tamil cinema fans is the original as well they’ve actually saved the most hard-hitting part of the film when you see it on 9th November.
The consensus is simple regarding Laxmi Bomb and it falls into 5 categories the original movie fans these include the people who thoroughly enjoyed the 2011 film when they saw it in theaters they hate the people who have a perception of the film by watching its Hindi dubbing every Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam language-speaking fans reveal the impact of the original language compared to the Hindi dubbing is astronomically different.
Their viewpoint is that Laxxmi Bomb with its unnecessary character changes is just a high budgeted Kanchana. The confused fans these include the fans who don’t understand why Kanchana is being remade they consider it to be loud grass and extremely annoying.
This is the section of people that believe the muni franchise itself is extremely overrated the premise and its treatment is extremely dated and the remake would have made sense if it came out five or six years ago not in 2020. Especially, not on OTT where individuals are used to content of a particular standard goldmines Hindi and set max crowd.
This is the crowd that is almost beyond caring anymore they have seen the Hindi dubbed film on channels like set max innumerable number of times have visited the gold mines Hindi channel and seen it there as well and wonder what would even motivate them just to see the same film with a higher production once again.
Akshay Kumar fans are the people who appreciate Akshay Kumar taking the risk and experimenting with roles even though they were a little on the fence of the sharp contrast from the teaser to the trailer. They are hopeful that the movie will be in for a surprise and it’s merely just a poorly designed trailer. Also, what the masses saw only context is the trailer for viewers who have no idea about the Tamil film and just saw the trailer were not fans of it’s over the top pitch loud performances and unimpressive comedy.
The truth is they’ve stayed loyal to the pitch at which the Tamil film is showcased but especially in 2020 where audiences are used to films grounded in some form of reality this seems like something not in their must-watch list on the weekend.
While the audience has seen clever horror comedies in the form of three even an inventive zombie film like Go Goa Gone and even if I am supposed to go down memory lane and take a film like Bhool Bhulaiyaat there was a brilliant quality to the writing that resonated with audiences. Laxmmi Bomb may still surprise audiences due to its heartbreaking origin story that gets revealed in its second half but I have to say that the trailer did a terrible job in exciting audiences for the film.
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